The Miniatures bull run

Ragamala paintings are a species of Indian miniature paintings that depict the ragas, and the moods associated with them. Drawing their imagery and themes from various medieval poetic treatises on the subject, the 13th century Sangeet Ratnakara being the earliest and best known of these, they are today much sought after among collectors of Indian classical art. Thus it was no surprise that the pick of Thursday evening’s classical Indian art auction by Saffronart should be a Ragamala painting from the mid-17th century, titled Ragini Basant of Raga Sri, depicting Holi, the spring festival, with a seated Krishna surrounded by trays of colour and attendants playing musical instruments. The painting, which was expected to sell for between Rs 35 lakh and Rs 45 lakh, changed hands for Rs 42 lakh.   

Of course, this is far less than the sums that miniature paintings in Saffronart’s first classical Indian art sale held in December in which two Basohli Ragamala paintings (c. 1700) fetched $1,45,455 (around Rs 98 lakh) – a world record in the category. That had been a ‘white glove’ sale, in that all 70 lots offered were sold, with 39 per cent of the artworks selling for sums in excess of their estimated prices. The present one, however, yielded far less spectacular results with only 35 artworks changing hands of the total of 81 on offer. 

Despite the average results, auctions such as these have had the effect of creating a market within India for miniature paintings in recent years. Saffronart isn’t the only one doing this; Mumbai-based auctioneer Pundole being the other notable domestic auction house which has had several very successful sales of classical Indian art, especially miniatures in the past five years. In April 2015, Pundole’s held a sale of Indian classical paintings from the collection of Ernevaz K Dubash, in which a rare early 18th century Mughal painting bearing the signature of the artist, Dalchand, fetched Rs 1.16 crore – a record for any Indian miniature in the domestic market – more than double its higher price estimate of Rs 50 lakh.

These prices are evidence of a gathering domestic interest in miniatures as collectibles, something that had almost died out in the last half century or so. This is borne out by the recent report of the London-based art market research firm ArtTactic which notes an “increasing domestic demand for Indian antiquities with auction sales in this category up more than 59 per cent since 2015”. Within this category of classical art, which also includes higher-value statues, it is miniatures that has grown the most, the report says, “with an 84 per cent increase in auction sales between 2014 and 2016” in the last three years.

The numbers seem big, but “doesn’t mean so much when you’re going from zero to x”, says Yamini Mehta, international head of South Asian art at Sotheby’s, which conducts classical Indian art sales in both New York and London. Mehta is referring to the fact that while domestic auction houses have been holding regular sales of modern and contemporary art, they’ve only just turned their attention to antiques. Pundole’s, for instance, had its first sale only five years ago, while Saffronart, which is 17 years old, had its first live sale in this category only last year. Even Christie’s, which opened its Mumbai sale room in 2013, included antiques in its sale for the first time in 2015. These public auctions, says Dadiba Pundole, have brought in transparency, and given people more confidence to buy in an area they did not have an opportunity to, earlier.
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The 1972 Antiquities and Art Treasures Act mandates compulsory registration and forbids the export of “any article...declared by the Central government...to be an antiquity”. The Act’s ambiguous wording, which leaves much scope for discretion by non-expert babus, is generally blamed for killing the legitimate trade in antiques and blocking all avenues for Indians to amass a collection through legitimate means.

Contradicting this long held view, Saffronart CEO Hugo Weihe now says that the Act is proving to be a huge asset in driving buyers to his auctions. “It has resulted in giving a clear title of the work,” he says. “There are registrations and ownership, which have become very touchy issues outside of India, that can be transferred. Provenance, the whole matter of where did the work come from, is a non-issue in India.”

William Dalrymple, writer, art historian and collector of miniatures, believes it’s got to do with the realisation of how undervalued Indian miniature painting continues to be. “You can buy museum quality miniatures for as little as Rs 5 lakh, and absolutely top-grade masterpieces for about Rs 30 lakh. For a major piece of contemporary art, in contrast, you would be paying multiple crores. So a correction has been long coming.” His own collection, which he describes as “small and economically modest” was bought and kept in his London home rather than in Delhi where he lives nine months of the year, “because of the law”.

“When great pieces come to market, they create an atmosphere of excitement and that generates its own momentum. That’s what we are witnessing,” says Edward Gibbs, Chairman, Head of department, Middle East and India, Sotheby’s. 

The artworks in the Saffronart sale this week, for instance, were owned by Motichand Khajanchi (1925-79), a jeweller from Bikaner who built a large and very fine collection of Rajasthani miniatures, part of which is in the National Museum. His collection, dating from 1940s onwards, was acquired from largely the maharajahs who, at this time of political flux, were selling much of their holdings. This gives to any artwork from the collection sold at an auction a gilt-edged ‘chain of ownership’ or provenance in auctioneers’ parlance – making them more attractive to buyers, thus commanding a higher price. Besides, Khajanchi’s collection was known to important art historians and museologists of the time – Rai Krishnadasa, Anand Krishna and Karl J Khadalavala, to name a few.        

Indeed, as Sotheby’s Mehta points out, such single-owner sales have been important drivers of the rising interest in antiquities. She points to Sotheby’s sale in 2011 of the collection of Stuart Cary Welch, curator of Indian and Islamic Art at the Harvard Museum and Metropolitan Museum of Art, which exceeded its pre-sale estimates by a multiple of four, and set a world record for a Mughal miniature. Saffronart’s first classical Indian sale in 2015 had 45 lots from a well-known scholar of miniature paintings, Col RK Tandon. Pundole’s success too, has been propelled by single-owner sales of collections of Ernevaz K Dubash, Roshan Sabavala, and other Parsi collectors such as AC Ardeshir and Cowasji Jehangir.
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The turn to antiquities is undoubtedly a welcome change but more heartening is the fact that Indians are bidding, and winning, at international auctions of classical Indian art and bringing it all back with them.

For instance, Rob Dean, a London-based gallerist and dealer, writes about the 2016 Khosrovani-Biba sale at Sotheby’s where unlike in earlier years “in several cases the record breaking lots were purchased by Indian clients, who despite an import duty of 15.5 per cent, were willing to buy antiquity and re-import the works to India. These lots are then immediately registered with the Indian Government making them once again non-exportable and limiting their later resale to a domestic market.” Though at a nascent stage, say auctioneers, gallerists and collectors, it’s still happening.
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But if all this is wonderful news, Dalrymple points to what’s been a real threat to antiquities, especially miniatures – the fact that individuals and institutions who have them don’t keep them as well as they should. “For example, no miniature should be kept on a wall in the sun for more than two-three months,” he says. This is seldom done. At the Benaras Hindu University, for instance, which has one of the greatest collections of miniatures, paintings have been stuck on the wall since the 1950s and a lot of them have just cracked, says Dalrymple. “I am worried about the miniatures dying in the National Museum and in dark rooms inside palaces where they have been locked up because of legal disputes.